The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-19
AN AMERICAN woMAN's JEWELS.
Opals and Diamonds Which the Rich
Wear on Rare Occasions

Opals and Diamonds Which the Rich
Wear on Rare Occasions.
NEW YORK. June 1S.-Among the MANY
beautiful and costly jewels belonging to
American women there are few which have
any special history attached to them, and
very few are heirlooms The few families
who have heirlooms of any value in this
country are generally people too poor in
other ways to be able to make a display of
them. But there are yet few which have
histories worth telling, and among them is
a set of opals belonging to Mrs. Leland Stan
ford which she bought of Bellezza, a Genoese
Jeweler, who was in Philadelphia at the Cen
tennial Exhibition These jewels were not
publicly displayed, as Bellezza had sup
erstition about them and would never put
them in any case with other jewels on ac-
count of their former history.
They consisted of pin and a pair of ear
rings of opals set round with brilliants. The
opal in the pin is over an inch long, and
about two-thirds of an inch across being OBJ
long in form. Those in the earrings were
| of the same shape, about two-thirds the size
of that in the brooch. They all had exactly
the same milky blue lustre, and down in
| the heart of each burned a fiery red spot
with such baleful malevolent light that it
| actually frightened the beholder. These
stones at an ordinary distance gave the
| usual lustre of these jewels, and it was only
when looked at closely that they had that
popularity. They were arranged so that
they could be worn as three pendants on a
chain or band of velvet as well as in their
| ordinary form. The brilliants around
them were about the size of small peas
on the brooch and large pinheads on the ear
rings.
They were shown Mrs. Stanford more as
curiosities than anything else, but she was
instantly struck with their beauty and
popularity and bought Them paying 81 900
for them, and laughing at the thought of
any superstition regarding opals, although
she heard the story of these
The last owner before Mrs. Stanford of
these opalS was the eX-EmpreSS Eugene
They had been sent to her as present by
noble Spanish family whom she had greatly
aided in time of their misfortunes They
had been obliged to pawn these Jewels with
many others which the Empress generosity
| had enabled them to save, and she received
| them, but never liked to wear them, and it
| is said she never did wear them but once
| During the time that these jewels were in
| the family of this Spanish nobleman every
| misfortune that could follow one seemed to
| have pursued them, until they were almost
reduced to beggary and several of their
| family had died.
| The story is that the Spanish nobleman
| bought them of a widowed friend, whose
| bereavement had been the result of a train
| OF miseries almost unheard of. In her youth
| this lady had been lady of honor to the
| Empress of Austria and when she left that
| court to be married these jewels were given
| to her by the Empress, who had just bought
| them of the last member of n noble old
| Hungarian family, who was reduced to this
| extremity. The jewels had been a bridal
| gift from her husband and she had kept
| them until hunger and restitution forced
| her to sell them II was through Baron
Janus Won Xanthus that the Empress of
| Austria heard of the sad case and finally
| bought the jewels. Where they came from
before this | do not know.
When the ex-Empress had to fly from
| Paris these jewels, with few others, were
hurriedly gathered by her faithful friends
and attendants, and I saw and admired
| them at Chiselhurst, where, owing to some
| certain circumstances, / passed two days
and night, but 1 never expected to see
| them again.
Bellezza, the jeweler, is an Italian and en-
! joys reputation very enviable among
| jewellers of honesty, and he had often had
dealings with the Empress while in the
zenith of her power, and after her sorrow
she turned to him as medium TO dispose of
much of her jewelry in a quiet manner
which could not easily have been done either
in London or Paris. So Mile de Iarminat
and the Countess Clery made several visits
to Belezza, taking him the jewels for sale,
and he managed il with caution and usually
! good results. But no one would buy this set
OF jewels, and so they We're brought here in
hopes of selling them to some one who had
no superstition on the subject, and Mrs.
Stanford bought them. Superstitious per-
sons might say that the evil influence of the
| baleful jewels had fallen upon her also, as
she has lost her only child since then. If
she has them still she should remember that
| their wicked sorcery never ceases until the
owner is reduced TO poverty.
At the same time of the purchase of this
set of jewels Mrs. Stanford bought of the
same jeweler a magnificent necklace of dia-
mands and rubies, for which she paid nearly
| SAC, 900, and pin and earrings made of pink
| pearls, set with brilliants, representing moss
rosebuds. She gave about $1,000 for this set
which was intended for a present to some
| relative.
| The necklace had just one ririere Of large,
| pure white stones, and then the rubies,
which were hung on tiny chains, and below
| this another row of diamonds, not quite so
! large as tine upper row, with the exception
of the three middle ones The largest dia-
monds were about half an inch in diameter,
and the rubies were almost as large, and all
were of the most perfect purity
Mrs. Stanford has many other Jewels, but
none finer. In the necklace are 1875 stones,
OF which forty-four are rubies
OLIVE HARPER.
Call and look at the elegant Pongee Coats
and Ncstg at a unpl x, sloho,t1se